VENDORS and market goers were caught unawares when an explosion occurred within the Baguio Night Market at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 12.

The explosion, however, was part of a simulation exercise to determine the readiness of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) for a bomb explosion and other terrorist attacks.

Chief Superintendent Rolando Nana, Police Regional Office Cordillera (PRO-COR) regional director who headed the bomb explosion simulation exercise, reiterated the need for not only the BCPO but all provincial and municipal police stations in the region to be ready for any and such attacks.

“Based on our assessment, our personnel from the BCPO is ready for any eventuality particularly on bomb explosions and bomb threats, together with the Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD), the emergency response teams, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and medical teams which are the core components in any emergencies that may happen in their areas of responsibility,” Nana said.

Nana, however, said the BCPO still needs to improve their readiness for such an event.

“From a level of 1 to 10, I would rate BCPO’s readiness to be at 8 because there are still areas of improvement specifically on crowd control. Maybe the crowd was caught unaware of the simulation exercise except for the main actors. What we saw was a vendor who held the baggage containing the explosive device, suspicious unattended baggage’s should not be held and instead should be reported to our patrollers who are within the area who in turn would do the necessary action protocols when it comes to suspicious unattended baggage,” Nana explained.

The bomb simulation exercise is part of the regional police command’s security measures following the recent bomb blasts in Jolo and Zamboanga provinces.

“We are calling on all the members of our community who may visit areas like the night market including the vendors to be vigilant and observant of their surroundings, and in cases where there maybe the presence of suspicious unattended baggage’s for them not to touch it and instead, report it to the nearest police officers or station,” Nana added.